In semiconductor processing, silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology is becoming increasingly important since it permits the formation of high-speed integrated circuits. In SOI technology, a buried insulating layer, especially a buried oxide, electrically isolates a top Si-containing layer from a bottom Si-containing substrate layer. The top Si-containing layer, which is oftentimes referred to in the art as the SOI layer, is generally the area in which active devices such as transistors are formed. Devices formed using SOI technology offer many advantages over the bulk counterparts including, for example, higher performance, absence of latch up, higher packing density and low voltage applications.
In the semiconductor industry, the SOI layer thickness has been scaled down in every SOI device technology generation. Current technology trends are for providing SOI devices that have ultra thin Si channels. Ultra thin Si channel devices, which are formed in the SOI layer, have demonstrated excellent scalibity. The term “ultra thin” is used throughout the present application to denote a channel region having a vertical thickness of less than about 20 nm.
It is also known that fully-depleted SOI MOSFET devices with doped channels typically have very large threshold voltage variations. The threshold voltage variations are effected by SOI thickness as well as well as the channel length variations that are a result of conventional device fabrication.
In conventional fully-depleted SOI devices, the silicon film thickness is usually less than or equal to half the depletion width of the bulk device. The surface potentials at the front and back interfaces are strongly coupled to each other and capacitively coupled to the front-gate and substrate through the front-gate dielectric and the buried oxide, respectively. Therefore, the potential throughout the silicon film, and hence the charge, is determined by the bias conditions on both the front-gate and the substrate. The large variation in threshold voltage mentioned above has prevented fully-depleted SOI MOSFETs to become mainstream manufacturable complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Because of the current trends in reducing the SOI thickness, partially depleted SOI devices are being pushed closer and closer to the fully-depleted mode.
SOI MOSFETs are often distinguished as partially depleted (PD) when the silicon film is thicker than the maximum gate depletion width, and fully developed (FD) when the silicon film is thin enough that the entire film is depleted before the threshold voltage condition is reached.
In the prior art, halo implantation can be used to create a device in which the channel-length is dependent upon the total charge doping concentration. A well-designed halo implant can create devices such that the channel doping is higher in short channel devices. As a result, the threshold voltage vs. gate length curve can be flatten out. Therefore, devices can be operated at much shorter channel lengths. This prior art method however cannot be extended any further because 1) the junction leakage current could be to high with high halo doping concentration; and 2) the doping fluctuation effect could dominate the threshold variations in narrow width devices.
In view of the prior art mentioned above, there is a need for providing a method of forming a fully-depleted SOI MOSFET device in which the threshold voltage variation with respect to SOI thickness and channel-length variations is minimized.